Yankee player Alex Rodriguez plans to fight a drug suspension cut to 162 games from 211 by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz in the federal courts, according to the Associated Press.
The suspension means Rodriguez will be sidelined for any postseason game but would be allowed to participate in spring training and exhibition games in the upcoming year, the AP reported.
"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one," Rodriguez said in a statement, the AP reported. "This is one man's decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable."
Rodriguez was given an initial 211-game penalty by Commissioner Bud Selig on Aug. 5 after the investigation by the Major League Baseball Players Association found banned performance enhancing drugs had been distributed by the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic, according to the AP.
Horowitz heard the case in 12 sessions lasting from Sept. 30 until Nov. 20 and chaired a three-man arbitration panel including MLB Chief Operating Officer Rob Manfred and union General Counsel Dave Prouty, the AP reported.
Horowitz also said Rodriguez will receive 11.5 percent of his $25 million salary arranged from the upcoming year, the AP reported. Rodriguez is under contract with the Yankees until 2017.
The drug suspension given to A-Rod was for "his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone over the course of multiple years," MLB said last summer, the AP reported.
The punishment given to him under the labor contract was "for attempting to cover up his violations of the program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the office of the commissioner's investigation," according to the AP.
Rodriguez's penalty for using the PED while playing with Texas from 2001-03 was double that of the 100-game penalty given to Guillermo Mota, the pitcher for San Francisco, for a second offence, according to the AP.
MLB said although it "strongly disagrees" with the lowered game suspensions, it accepts the lowered amount, the AP reported.
"While we believe the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, we respect the decision rendered by the panel and will focus on our continuing efforts on eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game," MLB said in a statement.
The league added they "respect the collectively-bargained arbitration process which led to the decision," the AP reported.
A-Rod, on the contrary, has no plans of accepting the suspension and claims this is the League's "first step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round, instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy, and further insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety defense by accused players, or any variety of objective review," the AP reported.
"I am confident that when a federal judge reviews the entirety of the record, the hearsay testimony of a criminal whose own records demonstrate that he dealt drugs to minors, and the lack of credible evidence put forth by MLB, that the judge will find that the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the suspension," Rodriguez said, according to the AP.
